Toddler Bitten By Snake Has Significant Brain Injuries

Newsroom

Posted on October 06, 2016

A crowd-funding campaign to aid the recovery of a Queensland toddler bitten by a deadly snake has received twice as much as its $20,000 target.

More than $40,000 has been raised for Eli Campbell, who remains in hospital after being bitten three times by a coastal taipan while collecting eggs from his family's chicken pen in Agnes Water more than a week ago.

The two-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be revived by paramedics before being airlifted to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.

Eli is off life support but his family faces a nervous wait to discover the extent of brain damage he sustained.

In an update to a GoFundMe page on Wednesday, Eli's grandparents said initial signs showed the damage was significant.

"The latest news from Brisbane is not as good as we had hoped," they wrote.

"Eli is now off all life support & sedation and was transferred from the intensive care unit yesterday to a neurological ward.

"Initial signs show that there is significant brain damage following a lack of oxygen from the cardiac arrest.

"The area of his brain that has been affected the most is the occipital lobe, responsible for interpreting what he sees and he may also have some motor function impairment.

"It is so so hard for them due to there being no response from him at this stage but it is early days and the human body has remarkable healing powers."